Mischief Managed
by matsuoka gou
Summary: Arthur Kirkland is a student beginning his first year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He comes from a long line of Slytherins, and it is expected of him to be sorted into Slytherin as well. On the train to Hogwarts, he encounters a strange American boy who seems to be a little too interested in him...and an obvious Gryffindor. Pottertalia, USUK, boyxboy.
1. Magical Beginnings

**Well I tried to upload this story but the coding failed so here ya go. Thanks to the person who reviewed and informed me :'D enjoy!**

 **Note: Allistor is Scotland, Dylan is Wales, Deirdre is Northern Ireland and Finn is Ireland. I just got this from looking around on the web, so idc if you have a specific name for any one of those people which is different from the ones here, cause I chose these ones. Enjoy!**

"Do you have your owl?"

"Check."

"Books?"

"Check."

"Broomstick?"

"First years aren't allowed broomsticks."

"Oh, that's right." Mrs Kirkland appeared in the doorway of her son's room, a beaming face with eyes filled with pride as she looked on at her son, Arthur Kirkland, with an owl on his arm and a pile of books on his bed. "You should pack these. You don't want to risk leaving any behind." She picked up the books and sorted them into a neater pile, instead of having them strewn across the bed. "Oh, you're hardly ready! You should be more organised. You're going to Hogwarts and you need to make a good impression. Especially as they'll be expecting you to live up to the expectations they've gained from years of teaching your siblings."

Arthur sighed. Why did he have to be the second youngest? Sure, Peter may have it worse than he did, but that didn't mean it was any better being in the position he was in. His siblings were all extremely successful in school, and still were; getting the highest grades, winning Quidditch matches, getting immensely praised by both the professors and the other students, and completely winning over the professors, allowing them to be let off for a lesser punishment when they pranked the other kids. It didn't sound fair, and Allistor was always owling back to Arthur and telling him everything about what had happened prank-wise - then Arthur would go downstairs and read the letter which had been sent to his mother and it was all 'good grades' and 'Quidditch matches'.

Sometimes he wondered if his mother trusted them all too much.

"Allistor! Come help your brother!"

Arthur groaned as he heard footsteps increasingly growing louder before his older brother stepped into his room and grinned. "Aye, Artie. How's the packing going?"

"Brilliantly. Look at all the progress I've made," Arthur responded with a sarcastic tone.

"No need to get so sassy now you're in first year." He chuckled and ruffled his younger brother's hair, causing the other to slap his arm away and scowl. "Yanno, there's always that chance you'll be sorted into Gryffindor."

Their mother gasped. "Heavens, no. It's highly unlikely, if not impossible. Our whole bloodline is filled with Slytherins, and I expect nothing less from Arthur. He'll be a perfect addition. And then you lot can all see each other in the common rooms as well."

"Looking forward to it."

"Tone down with the sarcasm, Arthur," she snapped, heading towards the doorway. "Now sort out what you're packing, and Merlin's beard, Allistor, make sure he packs the bloody books." The door slammed behind her.

"Well, you heard the lady," Allistor grinned. "Get packin'."

Arthur shot a final death glare at his brother before he picked up the stack of books and tossed them into the suitcase, before spreading them out so they all fit in. "How many bloody suitcases will I need to fit all these school supplies in?"

"Aye, Artie."

"What."

"Don't forget your wand."

"Get out of my room!"

Allistor laughed and patted his head again. "Ma's real proud of you, yanno. She's been beamin' all day, real happy, and she keeps bouncing on her heels whenever she walks. You gotta try be a bit more optimistic today, Artie, even if it's not like you to do so."

A pang of guilt hit Arthur square in the chest. He'd always looked on the bad side of things, and got irritated by everything that people did, and never really embraced the bright side of life...maybe that was why he had no friends except his siblings throughout his childhood and the other kids in that Muggle school picked on him. But then again, those kids often found themselves accidentally getting hexed somehow. He often made things happen without any control over himself - and instead of making proper friends, he decided he'd just stick with his imaginary ones. His favourite was the Flying Mint Bunny, a cute little thing which flew next to him all day, just floating there. One time, Allistor walked in when he was talking to Flying Mint Bunny, and laughed at him for the rest of the day. Arthur remembered crying himself to sleep that night, especially because of the fact that Allistor had gone and told the rest of his siblings and his friends who were staying over, who also laughed and made remarks.

Allistor had apologised afterwards, not knowing how much it affected Arthur, but the pain was still there, and every time Arthur looked back on the memory he cringed slightly.

"C'mon, you're going to Hogwarts. Ain't you even the slightest bit excited? Yanno, new friends, new classes, magic and all that...it must make your stomach all tingly - what's it called - aha, butterflies. Have you got butterflies?"

"Like I'll make any friends. And classes aren't that exciting. The only thing that's really worth going to Hogwarts for is the magic."

"Ah, trust Artie to value magic over his friends." Allistor smiled a little sadly. "But please, try to make some friends? Even if it's just one? I mean, you'll have to sit on the Slytherin table and you can't stick by my side all the time like you did back in Muggle school...ya gotta be more independent, you know?"

"I know about independence. I spent most my life sitting alone. The rest of the time, I was with you. But you all have friends. I don't. I don't even know what friendship feels like."

"Don't be like that! You'll find friends!" Allistor started again with the hair ruffling, and earned another slap from Arthur. "Anyway, all I'm tryna say is that you should at least try. Like, if someone nice approaches you, talk to them. You'll probably meet new people on the train. Ya don't need me, or Dylan, or Deirdre or Finn or no one. You'll make plenty of friends on your own, aye?"

Arthur sighed. "Fine. I'll try."

"That's the spirit! Now, let's get packin'. I'll stop teasing ya and I'll help. Now, what d'ya want to go in here?"

They spent the next hour laughing and messing around as slowly, all of Arthur's belongings were pieced together in suitcases and such, and he was ready to go to Kings' Cross Station.

~TIMESKIP~

"-and you should not accept anything mysterious from other students, and you will not do any stupid pranks, and you shall not harass the witches and you shall not eat too much at the feasts and you will learn to use a broomstick properly and you will train to join the Quidditch team. You will study, you will get your sleep and do well in classes and not be sidetracked, and no dating until third year! Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Right." Mrs Kirkland turned to face all of her children. "Are you all ready? Another year at Hogwarts, and-"

"When do I get to go to Hogwarts?" Peter asked, waving his arms from side to side.

"When you're eleven and you receive your acceptance letter, Peter. Now stay still and let me talk to your siblings. You'll want to say goodbye in a few minutes."

She started talking about more rules, but Arthur was too busy staring in awe at the station. He'd been there a few times before when his siblings were returning to school, but it was weird to experience the train knowing you were a student and you'd be boarding that train every year. Seeing all his fellow first years, some looking confident, some nervous and one guy staring at his wand like it was a creature which would come alive and hex him. Someone was being teased by their older brother, who was telling them all sorts of lies (Arthur accidentally listened in on the part where he said that the Whomping Willow ate first years) about Hogwarts. Arthur remembered when his brother handed him a Monster Book of Monsters, telling him it was harmless and that if he read it he'd know a bit more on the first year of Hogwarts. When Arthur had unclasped the book, the monster had leaped out at him. Needless to say, he stayed up all night with Flying Mint Bunny that night, having a silent conversation and constantly checking under his bed for the monster book. The next day, Allistor had hugged him and apologised.

It was always the day after when Allistor came to his senses and realised he'd hurt his little brother. And he always regretted it deeply. Dylan never regretted anything he did, though.

Mrs Kirkland patted her second-youngest son's face, beaming. "I'm so happy to see you on your way to Hogwarts, dear. Have a good year, and make lots of friends!"

"Ri- ow!"

Allistor nudged Arthur hard in the side.

"A-Ah...yeah, I'm really happy to be going as well." Arthur rubbed his side, cringing in pain as his mother giggled.

"Have fun, kids!" She waved them off as they left for the train.

Of course, nearly immediately Allistor, Dylan and Finn ran into their friends. Deirdre stayed by Arthur's side as Allistor introduced his friends to him.

"This is my lil bro, Arthur. He's a first year now."

"Oh yeah, you told me about him! Hi!"

They all said hello and Arthur tried to act happy enough, and Allistor seemed satisfied. Deirdre pulled Arthur onto the train.

"If you need me, I'm usually in the third compartment to the left. That's the spot my friends usually reserve. If you find yourself in a bad situation or something, come find me and you can sit with us for the rest of the journey. They won't mind." Deirdre smiled and Arthur returned it to the best of his ability. He didn't really smile much. He wasn't a smiley, happy-go-lucky kind of person. Unlike most of his siblings. Deirdre was kind and sensible, Allistor and Dylan were basically the prankster duo of the school and incredible at Quidditch, Finn was pretty popular and smiley and Peter would undoubtedly make friends due to his bubbly personality. It seemed like they all fit into these social situations, all except for Arthur.

Well, he wasn't a very social person. He spent most of his time in his room, reading and listening to music. He'd always thought that was the best way to spend his childhood, and now he was coming to regret that thought.

He found an empty compartment and sat in the corner by the window after he'd put his belongings above the seats. He found his earphones and when the noise in the train grew louder, he put them in and started playing music on full volume. Time passed; he'd clearly gotten on the train a lot earlier than many of the people.

Soon he even got bored of his music and took his earphones out, and instead got out a book and started reading. He was glad he'd brought some of his favourite books, because there was no way he was reading Hogwarts: A History again.

Just as the train started to move, the door to his compartment slid open, and someone entered. Arthur looked up curiously - who would be stupid enough to bother him?

The answer was, a kid with blonde hair and a strange cowlick at the front, who was wearing glasses and a wristband with the American flag on it. "Hey, dude! Mind if I sit here?" He didn't wait for an answer and instead sat right opposite Arthur, before taking out a chocolate frog and eating it.

"Do you mind?" Arthur said coldly. The American dude stopped eating for a moment and stared blankly at him.

"Huh? I thought you'd be lonely so I came to sit with you! You're lonely, right?"

"Who are you?"

"Hm? Oh yeah!"

He stood up and stretched his hand out towards Arthur.

"My name's Alfred F Jones! Pleased to meet you!"

"Arthur Kirkland...pleasure."

He took his hand and they shook, and then Alfred sat back down hurriedly and started talking about how he'd come all the way from America for some reason and then this owl arrived, yadda yadda yadda.

Arthur sighed, turning his head to look out the window.

 _Well, this is sure going to be a bloody long train ride._


	2. American Boys

"So anyway, yeah, it was crazy weird, dude, but I dunno, I guess I'm kinda excited to go to this Hogwarts place. Gotta make some friends first, though, but hey, you'd be my friend, right?"

Arthur stared out the window lazily. "I'm not good at making friends."

"But you seem cool! And I just asked to be your friend, didn't I? So that was easy, right?"

"That's not how you make friends."

"Wha- you just said you weren't good at making friends!"

Just then, the compartment door opened again and another boy entered, a short one with short black bangs. He sat down very quietly, unlike Alfred had before, and bowed his head in greeting to the others. Alfred's face twisted into a huge grin and he turned to face the other boy. "Hey, dude! I'm Alfred F Jones! What's your name?"

The quiet boy looked up in slight surprise. "Ah. My name is Kiku Honda. Preasure to meet you." He bowed his head once again. "Am I interrupting something?" He had a weird accent that Arthur couldn't quite place his finger on. Maybe if he asked later he'd receive an answer. But for some reason the boy couldn't pronounce the letter 'l'. First an American, now a guy from Merlin knows where in the world.

"Nah, you're fine, bro." Alfred turned to face Arthur. "Why haven't you introduced yourself?"

Arthur looked ahead at the boy and said, "My name is Arthur Kirkland. Nice to meet you."

Kiku nodded. "Thank you for retting me sit here. There is not much room in this train. I hope you don't mind."

"So dude, where are you from? Your accent is all weird."

"Ah, I am from Japan. Engrish is my second ranguage, and I cannot pronounce some of the retters."

"That's awesome!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Your English is good," Arthur said. He didn't usually compliment people, but this boy was pretty good at English considering it was his second language and he was only eleven years old.

"Arigatou."

"What does that mean?!" Alfred's eyes lit up excitedly.

"It means _thank you_ in Japanese, I berieve."

"Woah, I love it! Can you teach me more Japanese sometime?"

"If you want me to."

It fell silent, with the occasional exchange of dialogue between Alfred and Kiku. Arthur remained silent, staring out the window, and only towards the end of the trip did he decide it was time to change into his robes.

He left without a word, taking the bag which contained his robes and headed into a bathroom stall, changing quickly. The robes didn't have a house colour yet, as he had not yet been sorted; however, he was certain he'd be sorted into Slytherin. He'd be receiving an angry Howler from his mother if he wasn't, and that would be embarrassing to receive in the middle of the Great Hall. He'd heard a lot of stories from Allistor and Dylan about people who got lectured by their parents via Howler in the Great Hall as a form of public humiliation if they'd been sorted into the 'incorrect' house. Arthur was positive he'd be in Slytherin.

He wasn't Hufflepuff material, and he doubted he was Ravenclaw material. There was no way he'd be sorted into Gryffindor, considering all of his family and ascendants were Slytherins.

 _It's going to work out._

Arthur left the bathroom once he was changed and headed back to the compartment, passing by Kiku on the way. Clearly Kiku had worked out that Arthur had gone to change into robes and had gone as well. That meant Arthur would be left with Alfred - _great_.

"Welcome back, dude!" Alfred cheered as Arthur returned to his seat.

"Stop saying _dude_ all the time. It gives me a bloody headache." Arthur rubbed his head to emphasise his point.

"Sorry, bro."

"That doesn't help either."

"So what, am I supposed to just sit and do nothing?"

"That would be ideal!"

Alfred sighed. "I've never understood British people. If only Hogwarts was in America, then I wouldn't be so confused. And why is the weather so bad here? It's so weird! I'm cold, like, all the time! It's annoying!"

"The weather is like this half the time."

"Oh, boy. Hey, I should go change into my robes too! See ya, dude!"

Arthur didn't say anything as Alfred stood up and ran out of the compartment. Instead, he looked through one of his bags and picked out the book he'd been reading earlier, and opened it to where he'd left off, entering the fictional world once again.

"-and the weather's bad, and everyone sounds so posh, and the tea sucks and it rains all the time and there's nowhere fun to go _and_ people say sorry way too much _and_ they use all the wrong terms, like, what is a pavement? It's a _sidewalk_. And it's chips, not crisps! And why are the large portions of fries so small?! This Hogwarts place better have burgers. I hope they have burgers. English burgers suck..."

Alfred's voice cut off as soon as he entered the compartment. Arthur looked up to see Alfred staring awkwardly at him. "I heard everything you said, so no need to pretend you weren't talking."

"U-Uh, no offence, dude!"

"None taken. Anyway, I'm busy right now."

Alfred paused and sat down opposite Arthur, Kiku sitting next to him. They engaged in conversation again, Alfred talking excessively and Kiku looking very confused, probably trying to translate everything in his head at top speed as Alfred spoke twice as quickly as most people. Arthur felt sorry for Kiku, but it was none of his business; just because these people were in the same compartment as him didn't mean he had to feel obliged to speak to them. He was perfectly fine with his book and himself for company.

That was what he fooled himself into thinking all the time. But friends would be nice...he just wasn't very good at socialising with people. Therefore people always wrote him off as 'antisocial' and kept their distance from him. It sucked, but he was used to it. Always being alone. Having no one to partner with in lessons.

The thought made him upset, so he continued reading, immersing himself in the book as the sound of Alfred's voice became a mere background noise.

The minute the train stopped, Alfred ran up to the window and pressed the side of his head against it, looking out at the station in Hogsmeade. They were all escorted off the train, and the first years were led off to the boathouse by a giant man named Hagrid. ( **A/N: Yes, he exists in this story ;p** ) Alfred stared up at the man, astonished. At this age, he was only 4'10", so looking up at this man was both scary and interesting.

They headed down to the boathouse, and Hogwarts came into sight, a ripple of 'woah's and 'ahh's spreading across the audience of first years as their wide, curious young eyes took in the sight of the majestic school. Hagrid beckoned them to get on a boat, three people to each boat. Arthur got into the back of the boat, with Alfred at the front and Kiku next to him. Alfred's eyes were wide as he stared onwards at the castle, as was Kiku. Even Arthur's breath hitched as he gazed onwards at the beautiful illuminated castle.

The boats moved closer towards the castle until they reached it, and were instructed to carefully leave them and move in an orderly fashion up the stairs towards the castle entrance, where a woman stood in the large doorway to welcome them to Hogwarts.

"Good evening, first years, and welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In a moment, you will enter the Great Hall and be sorted into your houses, before joining the table of your house and the Feast will begin. The rest of the students await you in the Great Hall. We shall proceed." She turned around and began walking, before one of the kids at the front spoke up.

"U-Uh, Professor, where are our suitcases?"

"All luggage will be found in your dorm rooms once you have been Sorted. Now, follow me."

Nobody dared ask how the dorm rooms had already been decided when none of them had been Sorted yet, but they followed the woman towards the large doors that were the Great Hall's entrance. Arthur didn't realise Alfred was standing next to him until he heard a 'wow' from next to him and turned to see the blonde boy, whose eyes were shining from behind the clear lens of his glasses.

Kiku was also with him, next to Alfred, and he had been silent since the train journey ended. He murmured a word in Japanese which Arthur didn't understand, and then the doors opened and even Alfred fell silent.

They were greeted by four long tables, with a raised platform at the end and another table, evidently for the staff. In front of the staff table was a chair with a hat perched on the end, the Sorting Hat, and the four house tables had students with colour-coded uniforms - red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin. Arthur stared at the table of Slytherins and first saw Deirdre, who waved and smiled, then Finn who did a small wave, then Allistor and Dylan who stood up from their seats and frantically waved before being hissed at to sit down by a Prefect ("do you _want_ to lose points on the first day?").

They formed a large crowd in front of the chair with the hat on, and were then called up on one-by-one after a starting speech from the headmaster - stuff that Arthur already knew, like the third floor corridor and the Whomping Willow and everything that they had to be aware of (Allistor had told him some stories) and things that were to be expected of them.

It goes in alphabetical order according to last name, and Arthur was towards the middle of the alphabet. Out of Arthur, Alfred and Kiku, Kiku is called up first. He sits down on the chair and the hat is placed on his head.

A few moments later it yells out "RAVENCLAW!" upon the Great Hall, and he goes to sit down as his robes turn blue.

Arthur shrugged slightly. _Ravenclaw isn't too bad. I could be friends with someone from there._ Next to be called up out of the names Arthur recognised was Alfred, who, two seconds after the hat was placed on his head, was immediately sorted into-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

 _Of course._

The friendship ended there. As Alfred's robes turned red and he headed to the Gryffindor table, he grinned at Arthur. Arthur remained stone cold, not even looking at Alfred. When he was called up, the Sorting Hat needed no time to decide. The hat had barely touched his head before it called out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Arthur looked down as the stripes on his robes turned green by magic and his brothers waved from the Slytherin table, making room for him to sit down. He didn't run like most of the other kids did, but instead walked steadily and sat in between Allistor and Dylan, who put their arms around him and congratulated him, their friends admiring him and some of the girls cooing over how 'cute' he was.

It was really patronising.

The rest of the first years were sorted, and the headmaster made one final speech before waving his hand and an array of dishes appeared on the table. Allistor and Dylan grinned, and watched as Arthur stared at the variety of food that lay before him.

"Dig in!" they said, and started helping themselves as Hogwarts became alive with the buzz and excitement of the new school year.

But, in all honesty, all Arthur could do was dread.

That night, in the dorm, Arthur ran into three strange people in his year who were all seated on one bed. He scowled. "You do know you're only allowed one bed each? You can't share." He sat on the bed by the window. It helped with his insomnia, sleeping where he could look out the window and see the moonlight. The boys looked up from where they were. One had silver hair, one had blonde hair and one had brown hair. The silver-haired one had very oddly coloured eyes, while the other two looked fairly normal, the blonde one with a ponytail which made him look slightly like a girl.

"What are you, a Prefect?" the silver one asked.

"Would you rather I shared a bed with you?" the girly one asked with a wink at the end.

"We're not all sharing this bed! Mine is over there!" the brunette one said, pointing towards another bed.

 _Wow. They're weird._ Arthur slightly regretted starting up a conversation with them. "Okay. I'm not a Prefect. If I was I wouldn't be in this dorm, I'd be in the fifth year dorm, _idiot_. And no, you cannot share a bed with me. And if that is your bed, why aren't you over there?"

"We are just hanging out here, _mon cher_. Is there a problem?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "What is it with all these foreigners in Hogwarts this year? Weird. Anyway, I'm not going to argue with you. Just pretend I don't exist." He sat down on his bed and faced away from them, staring out the window.

Truth is, his heart was beating. He didn't like talking to people. He didn't know why he'd felt the need to confront those three, but he already disliked them. He decided not to let it bother him. In the end, they moved off the blonde guy's bed and into their own, and the lights went out and everybody slept. Everybody except for Arthur. It took a while before he managed to fall asleep, and that was thanks to the moonlight.

Tomorrow, classes would begin. And there was a certain Gryffindor boy Arthur would have to try to avoid.


	3. AUTHOR'S NOTE & short break

Helloo :)

So I already posted this on my other fanfiction Nordic Cross (please read it if you haven't already!) but I will put it here because I noticed a lot more people are following this story than I anticipated.

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where I basically have to write a novel in 30 days! Well, it's not exactly going to be the full novel as this is turning out to be a LOT longer than I originally thought, but I have to write the 50,000 words in 30 days. It's the fourteenth day currently and I'm on 30,000, so depending on when I reach the goal, I will be able to start up this fanfic and Nordic Cross again!

As an apology for making y'all wait, I'll be writing lengthy chapters once I return! Thank you for reviewing/favouriting/following this story and supporting it!

-matsuoka gou


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